By the term “one-dish meal”, most people mean a meal where a single plateful will fill them up. But using satiety as the basis if the definition doesn’t really work, because people have different capacities. Some eat very little, while others prefer a big meal. For example, some food shop customers might not feel full after finishing off a plate of pork fried rice and order a plate of kui tiao sen yai raad naa (broad rice noodles with meat in gravy) as a follow up, or start off with pork noodles and then move on to a bowl of yen ta fo. Both examples show that it takes a combination of these dishes to fill up some members of the clientele, and that both cooked-to-order food shops and noodles shops will offer a variety of dishes.
One-dish meals are different, and the ones that I would like to discuss today are those of which, if one plateful isn’t enough, a restaurant patron will order a repeat serving of the same thing. All of the customers who visit a one-dish meal restaurant will want to eat the same thing, because that is all that is on the menu. It might be phat Thai, khao muu daeng (Chinese red pork in gravy over rice), khao man kai (Hainanese chicken and rice), kui tiao khae (rice noodles with balls of fish, tofu, minced shrimp or other meats), kui tiao khua kai (noodles slow stir-fried with chicken and egg) or khanom jeen Hailam (a Hainanese noodle dish). The shop will sell only this one food, meaning that any breakfast, lunch or dinner eaten there will have no choice but to be a one-dish meal.
In Thailand, meals of this kind have been around for a long time. They first appeared in an era when Bangkok had not reached the level of development that it has now. There were many men without families, most of them young, who had immigrated from China to work as labourers and porters. The food they bought was sold near the places where they worked — piers, rice mills, warehouses, and the riverside areas near Ratchawong Road in Bangkok and Khlong Ong-ang. It consisted mostly of boiled pork or beef innards eaten with rice. Some vendors operated in front of opium parlours. These offerings were Thailand’s original one-dish meals.
Southern staple: ‘Khanom jeen nam yaa’ in a variety of forms.
As time passed the concept evolved to include additional dishes for people in different social classes. Among them were khao muu daeng, khao man kai, and various noodle dishes that have since become favourites. Cooks invented and developed them to attract more customers, and today most one-dish foods are still Chinese.
Still, there are Thai versions, too, and these have been popular for a long time. Khao kaeng, or curry with rice, is not among them, because curry shops offer a variety of different dishes and customers usually prefer to order a number of them to eat with their rice at the same meal.
One of the oldest and most popular one-dish foods is khanom jeen nam yaa (rice spaghetti with a spicy coconut cream and pureed fish sauce). The khanom jeen noodles used to be made regularly for festivals and important merit-making events that were attended by a large number of people. The reason that khanom jeen nam yaa was chosen was that it was the only dish that everyone could eat, no matter whether the crowd was large or small.
It was served at events like the Thawt Kathin and Thawt Phaa Paa festivals and at ordinations at various temples when groups of people from outside the immediate community came to offer robes to the monks. Occasions when strangers came to visit the local community were not frequent, especially in large numbers. Furthermore, the temple might well receive money or other useful donations, so when the visitors came, the local community had to offer them full assistance and hospitality.
In the past, the preparation of khanom jeen was a major undertaking. It had to be started at least two or three days in advance, with the rice being fermented and ground into a starchy paste (constantly fed with water) that was put into cloth sacks and pressed to remove the water, creating cakes of rice starch. These were boiled until the starch was cooked, after which it was kneaded to form a smooth liquid that was then poured into perforated cans. It dribbled through the holes in the cans into hot in long strands that the water cooked into noodles.
To make the nam yaa, plaa chon (snakehead fish) were boiled, after which the meat was removed and pounded together with seasonings. This mixture was cooked with coconut cream and additional seasonings. This entire process required many people, but it was quite routine in these communities, who were experts at it because they would have been preparing the khanom jeen nam yaa regularly for many years.
Nowadays, especially in provincial areas, people still like to serve khanom jeen at such events, but they do not prepare it themselves. There are factories everywhere that make it, so that it is easy and inexpensive to buy. In addition, the mild sauce called nam phrik and spicy kaeng khio waan are often added to the menu to be eaten with the noodles.
Khanom jeen served with nam yaa, nam phrik or kaeng khio waan are basic Thai staples. Their popularity never declines, and at markets there is usually a stall that sells it. It can be eaten at any time, and there is an alternative version of nam yaa, called nam yaa paa, that does not contain coconut cream, for those who do not like this rich ingredient.
Khanom jeen nam yaa is one of southern Thailand’s emblematic dishes. Although there are many regional dishes associated with that part of the country, southern-style khanom jeen nam yaa is at the top of the list. A visitor to any southern province who samples that local version is guaranteed not to be disappointed.
Shops that sell khanom jeen nam yaa can now be found all over Thailand. Some offer only this one dish, like one in the village of Pradoke in Nakhon Ratchasima. It is on the road that passes through the province and on to others. Travellers who take this route usually stop there for a meal. There is a choice of many shops, all of which sell the khanom jeen nam yaa.
There is also a vendor with a portable set-up who does business by a row of shophouses roughly across from the public healthy station in front of the municipal market in Phetchaburi. Buyers have to sit on low stools set in front. Eating there combines fun with tasty eating in a way that draws many customers.
Khanom jeen eaten with nam yaa, nam phrik or kaeng khio waan is a perfect one-dish meal, easy to eat, inexpensive and always delicious. No wonder it has been a Thai favourite for so many generations. n
This source first appeared on Bangkok Post Lifestyle.